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Rob Ford plans to appeal ruling that will remove him as mayor of Toronto

Toronto mayor Rob Ford leaves during a lunch break on the first day of a court hearing looking into allegations that he broke the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act in Toronto.Photo: Alex Urosevic

Marc Weisblott

Published: November 26, 2012 - 10:00 AM

Updated: November 26, 2012 - 5:44 PM

Rob Ford has been removed as mayor of Toronto after a judge ruled that he violated conflict of interest rules. He will be allowed to run for mayor again, however — and plans to appeal the decision before it takes effect in 14 days.

“This comes down to left-wing politics,” Ford said to reporters in response. “The left-wing wants me out of here.”

The ruling has created its share of confusion as it remains unclear what the options are when it comes to a potential $7 million by-election — nearly two years ahead of the next scheduled municipal vote — or the appointment of a placeholder mayor by Toronto City Council within as soon as two weeks should the appeal be refused.

Ford pledged to run to get his job back at the earliest available opportunity. While the ruling could’ve prevented him from running for public office for seven years, no such stipulation was handed down, presumably due to the nature of the violation — which involved fundraising for football programs for underprivileged youth.

Mr. Justice Charles Hackland of the Ontario Superior Court offered the following as part of his detailed decision:

“I recognize that the circumstances of this case demonstrate that there was absolutely no issue of corruption or pecuniary gain on the respondent’s part. His contraventions of the municipal Code of Conduct involved a modest amount of money which he endeavoured to raise for a legitimate charity (his football foundation), which is administered at arm’s length through the Community Foundation of Toronto.”

This saga started on March 12 when lawyer Clayton Ruby and his client Paul Magder served an application to remove Ford from office.

Magder took action when he noticed the mayor spoke about and voted on a Feb. 7 motion that relieved him from having to reimburse $3,150 solicited from city lobbyists via city letterhead for his football foundation.

Previously, six requests were made of Ford to repay the funds, but he refused. Justice Hackland pointed to the fact that the mayor had recused himself from previous votes where conflict of interest was a factor — yet he showed himself to be stubborn in this situation.

“In view of the respondent’s leadership role in ensuring integrity in municipal government, it is difficult to accept an error in judgment defence based essentially on a stubborn sense of entitlement (concerning his football foundation) and a dismissive and confrontational attitude to the Integrity Commissioner and the Code of Conduct. In my opinion, the respondent’s actions were characterized by ignorance of the law and a lack of diligence in securing professional advice, amounting to wilful blindness. As such, I find his actions are incompatible with an error in judgment.”

The verdict, which was originally expected for 10 a.m. Monday, was delayed by about a half-hour. Toronto City Hall watchers were able to spend those nail-biting times refreshing their Twitter feed.

Toronto Star urban affairs bureau chief David Rider threw a wrench into the anticipation when he accidentally tweeted a placeholder update in the effort to be first to break the news after the decision was distributed to waiting reporters. Rider’s use of the word “canx” spawned a meme that added some amusement to the anticipation.

Politicians who were quiet about the build-up to the ruling used Twitter to express their feelings — including city councillor and Ford opponent Kristyn Wong-Tam:

Mr. Ford is entitled to his appeal & judicial process. I have one question for him. Despite appearances, do you really want the job? #TOpoli

Meanwhile, interim federal leader Bob Rae dealt with breaking news coming from two different directions after the governor of the Bank of Canada announced his departure next June for a similar job in England: